by Kong Shiu Loon 江紹倫
Expo 67, Montreal
In 1966, Harry Parker, Marshall McLuhan and I worked together as a team to design the Canadian Pavilion for Expo 67 in Montreal. It was a pivotal time in history. Canada was to establish her nationhood with the repatriation of the Constitution from England. Around the globe, human beings were tip-toeing into the post-modern world in which the continuity of time and relationships would be fragmented.
Buckminster Fuller dominated new thoughts of living space with his geodesic dome, promising controlled comfort in city life. Marshall McLuhan professed new ideas that “the medium is the message” in communications. In his perception, the world was a global village. As a cold medium, television would penetrate our sub-consciousness, without us knowing about it.
In learning, Harry Parker converted the Royal Museum of Ontario into a participatory environment, encouraging visitors to touch and manipulate the exhibits. It was a revolutionary concept in museum history. Shiu Kong went steps further to suggest a “total learning environment” for lifelong learning, using the emerging technologies of communication and transportation to replace schools. In the North York experimental schools under his supervision, students were free to learn with or without teachers. They could also take books home from the library without “checking”. Librarians were to be resource persons instead of keepers of books.
In faraway Asia, the US was turning Vietnam into a killing field. With the use of TV, the cold medium, acts of massive murder were brought into the American homes, where people watch in the same way they watch dramatized sitcoms.
Less publicized was China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Powerfully launched by The Great Helmsman personally, it went rampant for a decade, leaving no Chinese untouched or unhurt. It also turned education, thinking, teachers and parents into objects of mockery and vindication.
It was an unsettling time. However, it was not without hope. People believed that, with everything gone from good to bad, the only way ahead was to go up again. Thus, the theme of Expo 67 was “Man and His World Land”; with harmony being the goal for development. It had a logo made up of eight symbols of human beings arranged in a circle, their hands stretched up to reach the sky.
Change in Perspective
Forty-three years had passed from the Montreal Expo to the Shanghai Expo. It would be a simple utterance if I were to say that “a lot of changes had taken place”. The fact is that our land is now polluted to the extreme, and men are not harmonious with fellow men, or with Nature. And now, Expo 2010 hoists up a new theme, “Better City, Better Life”, to guide future development. How easy it is to forget that we are lagging behind in our quest for whole-some happiness.
Today, people care little about the land and our relationship with it. Many no longer know that the land was so dear to us that we once regarded it as “mother earth”. The United States has now 84% of its people living in big cities. Even with China, a “developing country” by all counts, 45% of the total population are now “city people”. For the entire world, the 2006 statistics showed one in every two people living in the city. Our affinity with land is allowed to fade day by day.
We do recognize, however, that cities need to be better; and life needs improvement. That is why we made so much effort to prove that all that is seen in the Expo site and the connected roads and bridges can be built in two short years. And a closing ceremony statement pronounced that Expo 2010 was a success; it signified that the world was harmonious, and prosperity and peaceful cooperation among nations would be a sure development. The logic of that conclusion remains to be deciphered. For me who had visited Expo and awed by its diverse richness, what is real and disheartening is that all the wonderful buildings and contents will be dismantled and discarded, to make room for dense living buildings. It may do us good to remember that this was once a most fertile and active land for all lives.
While in Shanghai I seized every opportunity to learn about the essence of Expo 2010, especially the famous Chinese Pavilion. A professor from a key university reported proudly on national television that the main attraction was a landmark achievement. It used the most advanced technology to bring the people and activities of a famous painting to life. Named “Spring Festival on Upper River” 清明上河圖, the painting depicts what life was like during the Qing Ming Festival in the Song Dynasty, some1000 years ago. “That was our motherland’s ideal city life”, said the professor enthusiastically. “As we can now see everything alive, we have a vivid model of what a good and sufficient life is all about.” he concluded.
Change and Progress
I remember spending every Saturday afternoon for six months in 1966 at McLuhan’s Wycliffe Cove residence to hammer out concepts and methods to highlight Canadian society and aspirations for Expo 67. At no time did any of us think that we could use past conditions to model future aspirations. Change occurs naturally, regardless of wishes. Progress, on the other hand, is made when people strive to reach definite goals which represent improvements on what went on at previous times. Would the learned professor believe that today’s China should search her model of progress by “looking through the rear-view mirror”?
Much is said that the Shanghai Expo has shown that Chinese citizens are now law-abiding and polite, a monumental achievement. I’ve heard no one (myself included), disputed this fact. Gone are the past habits of spitting in public and rushing to fight for a place at the front of a queue. I was also elated that, on three occasions when I rode on public bus, youngsters gave up their seats for me. These are admirable achievements deserving praise. One must not forget, however, that China was known as a nation of decorum and caring since antiquity. The bad behaviours that are now being so successfully corrected had become rampant only in the recent past, when education had become dogmatic instead of setting children free, and when a student who handed in a blank examination paper was pronounced a national hero.
What about the big city as a mark of human progress? By definition cities had emerged as a result of the Industrial Revolution, when human beings began to adopt a new form of production and labour organization. So many novels of lasting value have narrated ills of the city. Anyone with a casual interest in literature would have read some of them, either in their original language, or in Chinese translations.
Looking back in total perspective, we can see the city having two grand effects on human individuals and society. First, it has kept people away from nature, more and more, to the point that the majority of today’s city dwellers forget that they are an integral part of it. Without labouring the point, it is this alienation from and ignorance about Nature that is responsible for all the environmental issues which are critically confronting us today. Second, the city has facilitated the creation of multitudes of material wellbeing and economical richness. These have in turn created in human beings greed and divisiveness, stifling basic dignity and happiness. Greed generates exploitation and violence. Divisiveness creates conflict and war. Together, they are the sources of war and cruelty which ultimately negate human conscience and honour, resulting in anonymity and the confusion or loss of individual identity. From this perspective, we can conjecture that, as long as we treat the expansion of cities as progress, we will find life and happiness in jeopardy and our ecosphere going down into ruin.
Ideas and ideas
I did not visit Shanghai just to see Expo 2010. I was attracted by the many conferences and seminars which form a part of that big happening. Organized and hosted by many of the participating countries, these activities are of very high quality. World expos were not created to show wares, least to sell products; they were intended to share ideas, wisdom and aspirations. It is a shame that this aspect of Expo has been largely ignored by all concerned.
The theme “Better City, Better Life”, itself not adequately publicised, was meant to be supported by five more specific topics for contemplation and demonstration. They include:
- Blending diversity in cities,
- Economic propensity in the city,
- Innovation of science and technology in the city,
- Remoulding of communities in the city,
- Interactions between urban and rural areas.
Because of time I was only able to attend two conferences. As an educator, I raised the point that there was a lack of people in all the topics, so they are at best academic. We need to see cities as belonging to the inhabitants, and not leaders, planners or speculators sitting on their chairs dreaming to make things big. We also need to recognize that, if cities were for people, they should give education a priority for individuals to grow and to achieve happiness. That could only be achieved if everyone is free and striving to uphold dignity. Regretfully, these points do not blend, have no economic value, do not seem to be innovative, lack the power to remould, and therefore did not generate much interaction among local participants.
Images and thoughts
Friends and people I’ve met like to ask me what I saw and how I felt. With so much seen, heard and felt, here are but a few random fragments.
++ The most significant outcome is that more than 70 million Chinese people from diverse backgrounds and geographic regions visited Expo 2010, an event the majority of them knew only by name. Some came to join the crowd; others came to see the world. They are all to be praised.
++ Could you imagine how, each morning, half a million or so people arrive at the site to line up for entry? They wait for about an hour. Then, they hear from the loudspeakers the number of hours that they need to queue and wait to enter some of the popular pavilions-- three to six hours. The act of lining up is novel to almost everyone. Yet there are few complaints. We might say that the Chinese are a very patient people.
++ Why would people invest a lot of money, time and energy to see 40 minutes worth of each of the popular pavilions, like Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, Germany and Italy? One way to answer the question is that most people found satisfaction in the experience. What experience? Saudi provided a total environment so people could feel the desert and its contemporary changes. Germany let people see that their shouting voice can be converted into energy, enough swing to a hanging globe. South Korea is people oriented. A touch of any alphabet, the basic building blocks of the huge pavilion, will trigger a video that shows an aspect of change of Korea in recent decades. But it was the main movie that touched people most. It depicted how a young man encountered a ten-year-old girl by chance and became aware that she was a ballerina who became crippled by accident. He did everything Superman could do to help her accept the cruel fact and become happy again. That is what a caring society is all about.
++ In the Japanese Pavilion, every receptionist is dressed in a red-crow crane costume. The crane has its original habitat in Northern China. It became almost extinct some years ago when China gave a pair to Japan. Through careful breeding 111 birds were hatched. They were set free to live in the wild in planned stages. The bird is now out off the extinction list. A video shows a young girl searching to have a glimpse of the red-crown crane. She goes to a lot of places and finally arrives at the bank of a river. There, an old man takes her in his boat so they would sail on to find the bird. During a long journey through rapids and shallow waters, the young girl and the old man are shaken by what they see. Trees were cut down leaving sections of the river banks bare, abandoned old factories and industrial wastes were left to rot and pollute the environment, the air is smelly, causing the pair of bird-finders to choke at times. At the end of the video, the little girl appears on stage, happy to see her bird in the air. She sings about her experience. She is joined by two young men who sing along with her, styling their music in traditional Kun Qu 昆曲. They plead the audience to love Nature.
++ The Italy Pavilion shows the best of music and art, together with modern fashion. The Malaysians do not seem to want to show anything. They tried their best to sell coffee and candies. The attempt was counterproductive. Singapore has much to show as a city state where education is given the highest priority and expert attention, and life is so secure that there are no worries. Regrettably, the authority misses the chance of showing the world the country’s extraordinary success.
++ At the Swiss Pavilion a huge screen continuously shows the serene beauty of the Alps. It had such a calming effect that people yelling as they approached the scene immediately stopped. I was standing next to two women and a man, middle aged and from a remote province. They were exchanging their admiration for the natural beauty when one of the women asked; “Which province in our motherland is this beautiful Alps located?”
++ The most disappointing pavilions are the United States and Canada. They seemed to be half-hearted in their participation. They dominated the expression of human ingenuity and aspiration in Expo 67.
++ Equally disappointing is the fact that visitors from foreign countries are so few that you can only find them managing their own pavilions. It would not be convincing for China to claim that this is a world expo, though it is participated by the largest number of countries in history.
++ Even Hong Kong citizens did not attend in expected numbers. Publicity is poor and too few. Local newspapers here seem to have a culture for telling sensational stories and negative news. Educational institutions are not doing any better. They emphasise general education and the need for young people to know the world; but little effort was made to promote the Shanghai Expo. Our educators did not seem to recognize that expos are once-in-a-life educational events. Hong Kong people are now used to seeing a university president serve as a judge in beauty pageants. We forget to expect university leaders to show us examples, such as paying attention to this the first expo hosted by China.
++ I had the honour to be warmly received by a large number of pavilions, including the Mexican Pavilion. There, a well-known scholar escorted me through the exclusive exhibits of the Maya culture. He also educated me on why the indigenous peoples failed to defend their heritage when the Spaniards attacked. They did not unite. From the outside, the Mexican Pavilion looks like a forest of thriving mushrooms, a remarkable sight.
++ The cutest look goes to the British Pavilion. It is a gigantic dandelion with tens of thousands of whitish tentacles sprouting up the air. These are sun-power devices. Inside, however, the past empire dose not has much to tell the world.
++ The United Arab Emirates Pavilion is a piece of art. Formed by six nomadic tribes, the new country shows not only oil power but also history. Remembering the time when the desert people had to make any riches by braving the sea, the leaders now remind young people to build wealth through knowledge and education.
Reflections
Did I see the old bad habits being displayed? Many of my friends like to know. Yes I did. But they are few and accepted. I saw people jump queues. A young boy would appear from nowhere to take position up near the front of a queue. Minutes later, his parents and grandma would come to find him. They stay on the spot, as if the boy had been there rightfully. Another typical case is when an old and strong woman (probably from rural China) just walks by the side of a long queue to stand up front in a chosen spot. She ignores all the comments and accusations directed to her, as if she is deaf and blind. Minutes later, three or four husky middle age men join her, pretending it is the right thing to do. By then, people simply shrug and keep silent.
Many of my friends who are retired teachers tell me this is unacceptable, and the culprits should be challenged and their wrong behaviour corrected. My responses are many. First, who will do the challenging and correcting? Second, what kind of challenge would help the individuals involved learn their civic duties? Third, I have seen parents, who asked their child to do what was described in the first case above, minutes later ordered the child to stand still and wait patiently, when the latter became bored and rowdy. Four, it takes a lot of love and courage to be tolerant. I relate to my friends that, even in a society like Canada where people are highly educated, the promotion of multiculturalism has been difficult. Most people are unable to accept other people’s attitudes, behaviours, language, tradition and life style, simply because they are unlike their own.
I had been very lucky to be given a VIP car to take me around from pavilion to pavilion, so I did not have to line up for entry. I attach the photographs I took so you can see most of the pavilions in their shining glamour. I took every opportunity to stroll around the expo grounds and to chat with people. Here are a few of the amazing things I discovered. The grounds are clean and rid of debris. Information and help are quite available to people seeking them, because of the service of many young volunteers. Space planning was done well, and there is no congestion anywhere, even on days when more than a million people visited the site. People are very relaxed as they move about. Visitors are not allowed to bring any food or drink into the expo grounds. But food is sold in assigned areas in affordable prices. Many choices are available. One could have a lunch for as little as $8 RMB, or as much as $400 RMB at restaurants in the Italian or French Pavilion. You need to book advance for a seat in the latter places.
I often thought, at the end of a day’s visit, why do these people come? And what would they carry away with them? I engaged in conversation with a group of five young people eating in a restaurant specializing in noodles. They were from a small hamlet outside of Lanzhou, 20 to 26 years of age, three men and two women. Their education varied from 3 to 8 years of schooling. In their experience, a school day involved seven hours of walking from home to school and back. They learned the 3Rs and singing to praise Chairman Mao. They are vegetable farmers now, earning about $20000 RMB a year, net. That is a lot of money to spend. They had already been in expo for three days at the time of our meeting, ready to return home after three more days. This was their first time travelling outside their birthplace, and they had great fun. I tried to probe into what constituted fun for them, but did not get too many specific answers. What was sure, though, was their wish to travel more; may be not outside of China, but into various cities and scenic places inside the motherland. They drove to Shanghai this time. “We never thought there is so much freedom and fun going places with our car”, they said in a chorus.
I sat on one end of a big bench in a huge shaded area, with seven other benches arranged in two rows. There was an assortment of groups around me, families, friends, construction workers, and retired people, all from distant provinces. They were eating and resting. From the many conversations, I learned that these people of diverse backgrounds and groupings had something in common. They came to see Shanghai as much as Expo. It was not so much the skyscrapers and shops and traffic and crowds that gave them a sense of novelty and adventure. They had seen most of those in television. It was the feeling of going on holiday with family or friends, having money to spend, and being free to go places. One group talked about their neighbours and friends at home being so timid that they are afraid to go anywhere. Another group expressed the satisfaction of having seen all the countries in the world in a single place. Still another group is planning to hold a party back home when they will show folks all their photographs, hundreds in number. “Remember the old days when we were not even allowed to visit the next village?” said an old man to his friend, “I never dare to dream that I could be here in Shanghai before I die”. For the two or three days these people visited Expo, they spent two thirds of the time queuing and waiting to see no more than half a dozen pavilions. But they had a lot of satisfaction.
I have always understood that expos are expressions of ideas and visions more than the display of economic or political powers. My experience in Shanghai had proved me wrong. I was surprised to find that many of my academic friends in Shanghai are showing apathetic or negative attitudes towards the landmark event. “Fools, absolute fools.” a professor of a key university said to me, “Why should anyone spend money and line up for hours to see a pavilion for minutes? What is there to see? I would not go near it even if invited.” Another professor friend, a long-time communist who holds a high rank in his Party, complained to me. He said: “This is a waste of money. It will not change anything. It is just a political show that incites envy and antagonism that we have no use for.”
Promises
I offered my friends a different view. I believe the 2010 Shanghai Expo is an epochal education event par excellence. Nothing like it has happened before. Perhaps nothing of its significance will happen again. Almost all the countries in the world have come to participate and to interact with China. Over 70 million people, predominantly Chinese, have come to experience the world and the world’s fastest growing city. They admired Shanghai for successfully holding a global event for six long months.
The Shanghai Expo is a multimedia and interactive school which engages students to freely learn and intimately feel and express. People learned from a curriculum which was unlimited in width and depth. Foremost in the experience is an instant recognition and acceptance of law and order derived from common good, instead of dogmatic authority. Queuing is showing respect for other people. It has been branded feudalistic and degenerate during the Cultural Revolution. It was also commonly defied even after the Reform and Opening, especially by people with power or brute force. Now, at Expo, everyone practised this respect by imitation. It became a habit.
People saw the application of technology, the arts and creativity in advance societies. They saw how life could be happy without excessive luxury and lust in societies respecting education and tradition. They saw a divided world where the poor countries sold candies and trinkets in their pavilions, while the rich countries showed their techno-economic powers. The thoughtful visitor would understand that the “One World” ideal will remain a distant dream, perhaps not even a good dream.
A pile of gigantic-size books are displayed in a prominent spot at the German Pavilion. I stood there for ten minutes to listen to what people had to say about them. Invariably, I heard people questioned why Goethe was given a more prominent place than Marx. Seeing me there, a pair of young man and woman asked me about the arrangement. They introduced themselves as graduate students from Fudan University, studying for their MBA. I said: “Marx has been obsolete for a long time. Goethe is lasting, perhaps forever.”
We can be sure that every expo visitor will go home to share their perceptions and feelings with at least ten other people. By a simple count, more than 700 million people will learn about the world through this landmark education event, the 2010 Shanghai Expo. When some of these people use the attitudinal and behavioural changes in themselves to influence people in their families and communities, we can look forward to the building of a better China, a country less divisive in knowledge and wealth, a country more harmonious with caring and respect for time-tested values, a country that values people 以人為夲.